Top 10: Oscar Flops!

Early hype can do wonders for small films with big aspirations like Little Miss Sunshine or Half Nelson but it can also be deadly for those big-budgeted, studio products made for awards attention in mind if they fail to live up to their massive buzz. The story of the Academy Awards is full of Oscar flops; films that generally sacrificed substance for (over-the-top) style and here's our overview of the ten most shameful attempts at awards attention in recent memory:

Dishonorable Mention: Kingdom of Heaven/Elizabethtown

It was recently reported that Orlando Bloom was taking acting lessons for his next film but would it have hurt the England-born heartthrob to take them back in 2004 before starting production of his prominent appearances in Elizabethtown and Kingdom of Heaven? The actor (at least partially responsible of both films’ financial and critical failures) proved to be an ineffective and inexperienced lead for heavyweight directors Cameron Crowe and Ridley Scott. Recently, Bloom has failed to land prominent roles in serious projects and both Elizabethtown and Kingdom of Heaven are still remembered as the weakest from both directors’ filmographies.

10. The Family Stone

At the start of the Oscar season in 2005, Diane Keaton was hyped as a lock in the Best Supporting Actress category by several online sources. The film was also touted as the next big holiday film and it was expected to emerge as the one to beat on the Comedy/Musical categories of the Golden Globe Awards. The film then opened to poor reviews and a forgettable box-office run. Writer/Director Thomas Bezucha (who basically disappeared from the face of the Earth after the film’s lousy debut) also made Diane Keaton look unsympathetic and I’m sure in everyone’s book, that’s unforgivable.

9. All the King’s Men

To be fair, nobody was expecting Oscar winner Steve Zaillian’s remake to the top the original but certainly; there was a bit of hope when it was announced that the writer of Schindler’s List had recruited an A-list ensemble to bring the classic novel/film back to life. It turned out to be one of the biggest flops in the careers of Sean Penn, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Anthony Hopkins, Patricia Clarkson and of course; Zaillian himself. All the King’s Men (2006) was such a flop that even the Razzies forgot to nominate it in any category.

8. Proof

It’s not a secret Gwyneth Paltrow’s post-Shakespeare in Love career has not been the most desirable and luck hasn’t been on director John Madden’s side for a while either. His first post-Shakespeare in Love project was the shameful fiasco Captain Corelli’s Mandolin; Paltrow’s string of disappointments included Bounce, View from the Top and Sky Captain. When it was announced they would team up again in the adaptation of the Tony-winning play Proof, every Oscar buzzer predicted big things for the Miramax project. By the time the film’s flaws were evidenced; all Oscar hopes were gone and as of today, we are still waiting for the project that will bring back some sense of dignity to Paltrow’s and Madden’s careers.

7. An Unfinished Life

Lasse Hallström was at his prime in the time of such shameless Oscar-vehicles as The Cider House Rules and Chocolat. He stumbled with The Shipping News and then, he collapsed with An Unfinished Life. Filmed in 2003 and delayed until 2005, the film was plagued by many production troubles and continuous rumors about disastrous test-screenings. In the end, the central character played by Jennifer Lopez was basically removed and the remaining storyline between the characters played by Robert Redford and Morgan Freeman was nothing special either.

6. Evening

I wouldn’t place a 2007 film on this Top 10 unless I was sure it didn’t stand a chance at the upcoming Academy Awards. This is the case of Evening; the summer Oscar flop by Hungarian director Lajos Koltai. Proving that even Meryl Streep can star in critical flop from time to time, Evening boasted by far the best ensemble of any film this year: Vanessa Redgrave, Toni Collette, Hugh Dancy, Patrick Wilson, Natasha Richardson, Glenn Close, Mamie Gummer (Streep’s daughter) and Claire Danes (as the lead and also weakest link). Written by unknown Susan Minot and released in the summer, it’s obvious the film didn’t have much going for it but still; it will be remembered as one of this year’s first and most notorious flops.

5. Spanglish

With Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News and As Good as It Gets on his resume, James L. Brooks is one of the directors that today’s award-buzzers can easily tag as a serious Oscar threat for practically any project. That was the dooming factor for Brooks’ last film, the mildly reviewed Spanglish starring Adam Sandler and Tea Leoni. On paper, Spanglish had all the elements to become an awards magnet: a relevant and contemporary concept, likeable (if unproven) leads and a very successful director on the helm. Despite being released in December and being buzzed about since production started; the bi-cultural dramedy became a financial and critical disappointment. While the Screen Actors Guild honored Cloris Leachman for her portrayal of an empathic alcoholic; Adam Sandler’s follow-up performance to the critically-praised Punch Drunk Love lacked depth and Tea Leoni was panned for her schizophrenic and annoying turn.

4. Cold Mountain

To me, the film was doomed when it was compared to Gone with the Wind on early reviews. By the time Cold Mountain opened, expectations were already unmatchable and that created a notorious gap between the people who loved it and those who didn’t. While the film did relatively well with 7 Oscar nominations and 1 win for Zellweger as the loud-mouthed Ruby; it failed to receive a Best Picture nomination (AMPAS’s not-so-subtle way to bitch-slap the Weinstein brothers and Miramax for their beautiful but shallow work).

3. The Phantom of the Opera

Was eccentric director Joel Schumacher on his way to redemption with the 2004’s adaptation of Broadway’s Phantom of the Opera? That’s what top Oscar buzzers were predicting back then. Early hype was encouraging and there were some influential names backing up the film and calling it the one to beat. Yet, when the film was finally screened and everyone realized it was basically a cheesy reenactment of the Tony-winning musical where nipples are shown everywhere and candle lights turn on automatically; the buzz faded quickly. The film bombed at the box-office and it failed to make stars of Emmy Rossum and Gerard Butler. Worst of all, it confirmed Schumacher’s inability to innovate or at least, to stay away from his usual fetishes.

2. Memoirs of a Geisha

Right after triumphing with Chicago at the 2003 Oscars, Rob Marshall took the challenge of proving the world he was more than jazz fingers and beautiful costumes with the ambitious adaptation of the worldwide famous novel: Memoirs of a Geisha. Marshall chose rising Chinese star Ziyi Zhang to play the iconic Japanese heroine and obviously, that generated a controversy that haunted the film till its release. Although the film was visually stunning (and it has 3 Academy Awards to prove it), Marshall failed (like many others) to bring new depth to the source material. Instead, Memoirs of a Geisha became a stereotypical Asian version of Valley of the Dolls and it is still remembered as one of the most unashamed attempts at Oscar attention (with gorgeous sequences though).

1. Dreamgirls

The marketing department at DreamWorks did an outstanding job promoting the Broadway adaptation a year in advance and economically, this was enough to help the musical succeed were very few musicals had recently. Hype was strong enough to make American Idol’s Jennifer Hudson a top contender throughout 2006 (In our case, she never left the frontrunner position since our first update) and the film itself was launched as the Oscar-vehicle of the year before production was even finished.

Like its predecessors, Dreamgirls was hyped to the extreme by both the studio and the online community and right when the film’s trailer debuted; there was no doubt about the film’s artistic and technical aspects.

But what about the substance? While Dreamgirls didn’t get the treatment of Memoirs of a Geisha or Cold Mountain, it opened to mostly good but not great reviews; a consensus that was tough enough to kill its chances. Critics didn’t love leads Beyoncé Knowles and Jamie Foxx but Jennifer Hudson and Eddie Murphy were unanimously praised as predicted. However, a film that was promoted as a masterpiece couldn’t afford to get just good reviews and by the time Oscar nods were announced, the Golden Globe champ was missing on the most important category. (Once again, AMPAS opted to punish a studio for their shameful attempts).

To further humiliation, Dreamgirls received 8 Oscar nominations (more than any other film last year), although 3 of these nods belonged to the same category: Best Original Song. The film ended up winning Best Supporting Actress (Jennifer Hudson, set to star in Sex and the City: The Movie) and Best Sound Mixing.

As you can see, money and good marketing can't buy an Oscar (at least, not as easily as we could think) and this year won't probably be any different for one of the big movies coming out in December? Will it be Charlie Wilson's War, Sweeney Todd or Atonement? Share your thoughts.

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